Reinhard Grindel | |
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 Grindel in 2018 | |
| President of the German Football Association | |
| In office 15 April 2016 (2016-4-15) – 2 April 2019 (2019-4-2) | |
| Preceded by | Wolfgang Niersbach(2015) |
| Succeeded by | Fritz Keller |
| Member of theBundestag forLower Saxony | |
| In office 27 October 2009 – 3 June 2016 | |
| Preceded by | Constituency established |
| Succeeded by | Lars Klingbeil(2017) |
| Constituency | Rotenburg I – Heidekreis |
| In office 17 October 2002 – 27 October 2009 | |
| Preceded by | multi-member district |
| Succeeded by | multi-member district |
| Constituency | Christian Democratic Union List |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Reinhard Dieter Grindel (1961-09-19)19 September 1961 (age 63) Hamburg,West Germany |
| Political party | CDU |
| Children | 2 |
| Alma mater | University of Hamburg |
| Occupation | Journalist |
Reinhard Dieter Grindel (born 19 September 1961) is a Germanjournalist,politician (CDU) andfootball administrator.
From 2002 to 2016 Grindel was member of theBundestag (Lower Chamber of the German Parliament). On 15 April 2016, he was elected president of theGerman Football Association (DFB) and resigned as member of parliament. On 2 April 2019, he resigned as president of the association.
Grindel was born inHamburg where he also went to school and studied law after obtaining a grant from theKonrad Adenauer Foundation.
After his studies he worked as a journalist for radio and television. From 1997 to 1999 he headed theZDF studio inBonn, from 1999 to 2002 that inBrussels.
He is married and has two sons.
Grindel became a member of the CDU in 1977. He was then active in theYoung Union and belonged to the state board in Hamburg from 1979 to 1985. From 1981 to 1987, he was also a member of the CDU district BoardHamburg-Eimsbüttel. From 1982 to 1988, he was deputy of the local district assembly.
Grindel was a member of the GermanBundestag from 2002 to 2016. He was elected to the Bundestag through the CDU state list ofLower Saxony in 2002 and 2005. In the2009 federal election, he was directly elected as the representative of the constituency Rotenburg I – Soltau-Fallingbostel. In the 17th legislature, he was a member of the Committee on Internal Affairs.
In the2013 federal election, Grindel again won his constituency. In the 18th legislative term he was deputy chairman of the Sports Committee. In the negotiations to form aGrand Coalition of the Christian Democrats and theSocial Democrats (SPD) following the elections, he was part of the CDU/CSU delegation in the working group on integration and migration, led byMaria Böhmer andAydan Özoğuz.
In June 2016, after being elected as President of the German Football association, Grindel resigned as member of the German Bundestag and was succeeded by Kathrin Rösel.
Since 2003, Grindel has been serving as deputy chairman of the CDU district association Elbe-Weser.
Grindel is a member ofRotenburger SV. From 2011 to 2014, he was 1st Vice President of theLower Saxony Football Association, he is also vice chairman of the Board of Trustees of theRobert Enke Foundation.[1]From October 2013 to April 2016, he was treasurer of the German Football Association.[2][3] Grindel was elected on 15 April 2016 to the position of DFB president, succeeding the retiringWolfgang Niersbach.
In July 2018,Mesut Özil criticised Grindel's approach to Özil's Turkish ancestry in a statement declaring his retirement from the national team, following controversial photos withRecep Tayyip Erdogan.[4] Grindel's handling of the fallout was also criticised by Matt Pearson ofDeutsche Welle, who opined that comments Grindel made in 2004 callingmulticulturalism "a myth and a lifelong lie" were incompatible with his role at the DFB, stating "it doesn't seem appropriate for him to continue in a position where he's overseeing players and coaches from a variety of backgrounds".[5]
Grindel resigned as president of the German Football Association on 2 April 2019. The reason he gave for his resignation was his criticism of himself after accepting a luxury watch fromHryhoriy Surkis, a Ukrainian oligarch and sports administrator.[6][7] Grindel had already been the target of criticism in the run-up to the meeting. One accusation was, among other things, the lack of mention of additional income when he took up his post as chairman of the supervisory board of the association's so-called "media management company". He was also criticized for his communication in public and for his media relations. As a result of his approach Grindel has been the target of criticism since the summer of 2018.[8]
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